Absorption

Ness absorbing Charizard's Flamethrower in Brawl.

Mr. Game & Watch absorbing Bowser's Fire Breath and counter-attacking in Brawl.

For the technique referred to as "absorbing damage" by the Twinkle Toes bonus in Super Smash Bros. Melee, see tech.

Absorption is the process of using a particular special move to "catch" an opposing non-physical projectile, or a teammate's projectile if Team Attack is turned on. The assailant then provides some benefit to the character absorbing based on the attack power of the absorbed attack.

Only four characters in the Super Smash Bros. series have special moves that can absorb non-physical attacks, namely Ness, Lucas, Mii Gunner and Mr. Game & Watch. Ness and Lucas' absorbing special move is the PSI Magnet, Mr. Game & Watch's is Oil Panic, and the Mii Gunner's is Absorbing Vortex. PSI Magnet and Absorbing Vortex heal the user based on the absorbed attack's power, while Oil Panic stores the strength of up to three projectiles for unleashing a single attack.

As of version 1.1.3 in Super Smash Bros. 4, absorbed attack power from fellow teammates during Team Battles with Friendly Fire turned on is halved.

In The Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Floows are also capable of absorbing attacks, though they do not appear to do anything with the absorbed energy.

List of absorbable attacks

User/Item	Move	Part of Move	Games
By Characters
Bowser (Giga Bowser)	Fire Breath	Entire move
Charizard	Flamethrower	Entire move
Cloud	Blade Beam	Entire move
Corrin	Dragon Fang Shot	Entire move
Dark Pit	Silver Bow	Entire move
Diddy Kong	Rocketbarrel Boost	Free-roaming barrels
Dr. Mario	Megavitamin	Entire move
Duck Hunt	Trick Shot	Explosion
Falco	Blaster	Entire move
Fox	Blaster	Entire move
Ice Climbers	Blizzard	Entire move
	Ice Shot	Ice
King Dedede	Super Dedede Jump	Stars
	Waddle Dee Toss	Waddle Doo's beam attack
Kirby	Copy Ability	Some neutral special moves
	Final Cutter	Wave
Link	Bomb	Explosion
Lucario	Aura Sphere	Entire move
	Force Palm	Aura shot
Lucas	PK Fire	Entire move
	PK Freeze	Entire move
	PK Thunder	Entire move
Luigi	Fireball	Entire move
Mario	Fireball	Entire move
Mega Man	Crash Bomber	Explosion
	Forward Smash	Entire move
	Forward Tilt	Entire move
	Neutral attack	Entire move
	Neutral aerial	Entire move
Mewtwo	Forward throw	Shots
	Shadow Ball	Entire Move
Mr. Game & Watch	Chef	Sausages
Ness	PK Fire	Entire Move*
	PK Flash	Entire move
	PK Thunder	Entire move
Palutena	Autoreticle	Shots
Peach	Toad	Spores
Pichu	Thunder	Bolt
	Thunder Jolt	Entire move
Pikachu	Thunder	Bolt
	Thunder Jolt	Entire Move
Pit	Palutena's Bow	Entire move
R.O.B.	Robo Beam	Entire move
Robin	Arcfire	Entire move
	Elwind	Entire move
	Thunder	Entire move
Rosalina	Floaty Star Bit	Entire move
	Shooting Star Bit	Entire Move
Ryu	Hadoken	Entire move
Samus	Bomb	Entire move
	Charge Shot	Entire Move
Sheik	Burst Grenade	Entire move
	Vanish	Entire Move
Toon Link	Bomb	Explosion
Villager	Lloid Rocket	Explosion
Wii Fit Trainer	Sun Salutation	Entire move
Wolf	Blaster	Shot
Yoshi	Yoshi Bomb	Stars
Zelda	Din's Fire	Entire Move
Zero Suit Samus	Down Smash	Entire move
	Paralyzer	Entire move
By Items
Blast Box		Explosion
Bob-omb		Explosion
Bombchu		Explosion
Fire Flower		Flames
Gooey Bomb		Explosion
Lip's Stick		Spores
Motion-Sensor Bomb		Explosion
Ray Gun		Shots
Star Rod		Stars
Steel Diver		Shots
Super Scope		Shots
Superspicy Curry		Flames
By Pokémon
Charizard	Flamethrower	Flames
Cyndaquil	Flamethrower	Flames
Electrode	Self-Destruct	Explosion
Genesect	Techno Blast	Beam
Meowth	Pay Day	Coins
Starmie	Swift	Stars
Staryu	Swift	Stars
By Stage Hazards
Corneria		Shots fired from Arwings, Wolfens, and the Great Fox
Pyrosphere		FG-II Graham Unit shots
Saffron City	Charmander	Flamethrower
	Venusaur	Razor Leaf
Sector Z		Shots fired from Arwings
Venom		Shots fired from Arwings and Wolfens
Wily Castle		Yellow Devil's shots
By Enemies and Bosses
Armank		Energy Shot
Chandelure		Fire Spin, Will-o-Wisp
Duon		Scattershot
Gamyga		Lasers
Magikoopa		Spells
Monoeye		Energy Shot
Master Edges		Sword projectiles
Master Hand		Finger bullets
Puppit		Lasers
R.O.B. Blaster		Beams
Scope Primid		Shots
Spaak		Electric ball
		Lightning bolt
Starman		PK Beam

Trivia

• Every Super Smash Bros. game debuts one character with an absorption move: Ness in Super Smash Bros., Mr. Game & Watch in Melee, Lucas in Brawl, and Mii Gunner in SSB4.